The Last Resort
by Miccacode
Summary: Now that Ultron has been defeated, the Avengers continue to destroy HYDRA's lose ends and train the new recruits. Natasha sets out to find Dr Banner, Pietro and Wanda attempt to integrate themselves back into the world, and Lydia is determined to hunt down several agents that went rogue after SHIELD's collapse.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

Tony Stark's love of throwing loud, extravagant parties was well known by the world and the media. Tony Stark's ability at throwing a loud, extravagant party that was not public knowledge was not known by the world and the media. However, secluded parties did happen. This didn't mean they were any less loud or extravagant, it just meant he paid more attention to the guest list than usual. Or, rather, Pepper looked over the guest list and scratched off at least half the names.

The party to mark the completion of the new Avenger's Tower was one such party, secluded to mostly the ex-shield agents that worked with the Avengers, and a few of Tony's closest business partners.

Tony wasn't quite sure if he'd actually invited Nick Fury or not, but that didn't seem to matter, as at some point during the night, Nick Fury appeared standing in front of the window, looking out over the city landscape, and stood there as if he were a piece of décor.

At least, he did until one Lydia Martinez approached him. Lydia Martinez, with brown skin and short dark hair, dressed in a tight black dress and holding a tall glass of champagne so delicately, it was almost as if, without it, her outfit would not be complete.

"Director," she addressed him, her words smooth as she looked out at the landscape.

"I'm not a director anymore, Agent," Fury replied, clasping his hands behind his back. Lydia smiled, and took a sip from her champagne, leaving a dark purple lipstick mark on the edge of the glass.

"Are there any more leads on the rest of the Last Resort?" she asked. Fury shook his head.

"No," he said, "We're searching as hard as we can, but our resources are… less than we had."

Lydia made a small noise of irritated understanding, and she turned her back on the city. "When you do," she said, looking up at him, "I want to know."

"Of course," Fury said, nodding at her as she walked away, her sleek black heels clicking on the floor.

She joined a small circle consisting of Maria Hill, Pepper Potts, Jane Foster, Tony Stark and Sam Wilson.

"-Finally a room full of more women," Maria was saying as Lydia approached. Lydia smirked as she slid easily into the circle, between Pepper and Sam.

"Tell me about it," she said, a salacious grin on her face "I was beginning to get bored of all the bulging biceps around here."

"Ah, you can't tell me we're _that_ boring, can you?" Sam asked, a tone of mock-annoyance in his voice as he grinned. Lydia shrugged.

"Well, you are all lovely to look at, but life for someone like me can just get so _dull_ when there aren't enough women around either," she winked at Jane who snorted into her glass, while Tony rose towards her.

"Girl sees sense," he said.

"I always see sense," Lydia replied.

* * *

As Lydia joined the socialisation, Fury was approached by Natasha Romanoff. Unlike Lydia, she didn't stare out at the skyline, but looked up at Fury directly. He responded by looking down at her.

"Any leads on Banner?" she asked.

"Nothing more than what we already had," Fury replied, and Natasha huffed, "We've got people looking for him in every country, but he's been running for years. He knows how to hide."

"The world's only so big," Natasha said, casually, "he can't hide forever."

* * *

Back on the other side of the room, Lydia looked around, and raised her eyebrows at the sight of a lone Pietro Maximoff, seeminly sulking in the corner of the room. Odd, she thought, he was seldom separate from his…

Ah, there she was. Wanda and the Vision were happily sitting on the sofa near the back of the room, talking animatedly. The two had grown close in the recent months, both navigating what was, for all intents and purposes, a new world to them. It seemed Pietro did not enjoy their kind of navigating. Sighing, Lydia slipped out of the circle, and walked across the room. Pietro looked up when he heard her heels clicking towards him. His face did not quite soften, but it did not get worse, as it had done whenever someone he didn't know had approached him that night.

"You can join the party, you know," Lydia said, as she stopped in front of him, the amused tone in her voice setting an easy, non-intrusive quality to the conversation.

"I don't like parties," Pietro replied simply, looking away. Lydia let out a small laugh.

"No one likes parties," she said, "Not until they've got three times their alcohol limit in their blood and have stopped caring about everything," she held up her champagne glass to solidify her point. She then rethought her statement. "Well, unless you Tony. He loves parties; why he throws them so much. Of course, he _still_ ends the night with probably more than ten times his alcohol limit in his blood…"

"Why are you over here," Pietro asked, shuffling from foot to foot. Lydia couldn't tell if he was uncomfortable with her presence, or just confused by it. She shrugged,

"You looked lonely, I thought perhaps you might appreciate some company, but would also appreciate not being forced into a large crowd." When he didn't answer, she sighed, took a sip of her champagne, and said, "but if you would prefer to be left alone, I understand."

She turned to go, but Pietro swallowed and said, "No it…" he faltered and she turned back, raising one dark, thick eyebrow, "I would appreciate your company."

"Good," Lydia smiled at him.

"I am… not used to talking with people who are not Wanda," Pietro said, his accent curling around the words almost harshly. Lydia looked over to where Wanda was smiling with the Vision.

"She seems to have grown quite close with Vision," Lydia commented, eyeing Pietro for his reaction. A shadow flitted across his face and his shoulders hunched slighty.

"Yes."

"You don't like that?"

"… I don't know," Pietro answered, his shoulder loosening slightly, "I don't know much about him."

"None of us do," Lydia told him softly, "I doubt he even knows much about himself. I mean, he is only, what… four months old?" She quirked a smile. Pietro looked at her and snorted, and her smile grew at the reaction she'd gotten.

Later that night (or, perhaps, early the next morning is a better description), as Lydia curled up in bed, her feet aching from wearing heels all night and the champagne happily bubbling away in her blood, she heard her personal phone chime from her dresser. However, she had already drifted off into sleep before she could even think of looking at it.

* * *

 **So I haven't posted any fanfiction for years, and when I did it was on a completely different account, but I recently saw Age Of Ultron and figured... why not. Hopefully this fic will, uh, go where I want it to go.**

 **I'm in exam season atm, so updates will be either really common, or really rare (depending on how much procrastination I'm doing) until the end of May.**

 **But yeah, it'd be great to know your thoughts and stuff, so drop us a review or whatever :D**


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

The next day, Lydia, Steve and Natasha stood in the training room. Opposite them stood Wanda, Pietro and the Vision.

"Sam and Rhodey not joining us?" Lydia asked, slipping on a pair of fingerless gloves and strapping them up.

"Rodes is somewhere with the army and Sam is…" Steve faltered, "on a personal mission."

Lydia and Nat exchanged looks, comfirming their suspicions. While neither of them knew much about the search for the Winter Soldier, they knew how much it affected Steve. Lydia shrugged, and attempted to bring back a lighter air.

"Ah well, this'll be easier anyway. Honestly there's not much we can do for Rhodey and Sam, they're already military trained." She cracked her knuckles and looked at Steve. "Cap?"

Steve stepped forward to tell the group of recruits that they would be sparring for most of the morning, attempting to improve their general hand to hand combat without the use of their powers. "Pietro, you're with Natasha, Vision with me, and Wanda with Lydia."

The group nodded and split off the separate parts of the room, Lydia taking Wanda over to a corner.

"Question," Lydia said, "could you look into my head and know what moves I'm about to use on you?"

Wanda, "Yes, it would be quite easy, in fact," she said.

"How easy would it be to _not_ do it?" Lydia asked. Wanda looked at her, confused.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, do you see other people's thought's naturally? Or would you be able to stop yourself seeing how I'm about to attack you?" Lydia elaborated. Around them, the others had already started sparring. Wanda thought about her question for a while.

"I could stop it. Block you off, so to speak," she finally replied. Lydia nodded.

"Good, do that."

The two women stood for a moment, Wanda unsure of what exactly to do next, until Lydia suddenly launched her fist towards her. Wanda barely managed to block her, but didn't catch the kick to her shins, causing her to stumble. Lydia continued to push Wanda back, assessing her natural combat ability in her head as she went, noting each failed block and each successful attack.

They slowed to a stop when they heard Steve groan violently, and Lydia turned to see him sprawled out on the ground on one end of the room, and Pietro standing on the other. She raised her eyebrows at him.

"Didn't we say _no_ powers?" she asked. Pietro shrugged.

"He was being too slow," he responded, "even for normal standards."

Lydia caught Natasha rolling her eyes as she turned back towards Wanda. She was just about to tell the girl to get back into stance, when the door slid open and Maria Hill strode in.

"Martinez!" she said, and Lydia straightened up. Maria beckoned Lydia over, and, with a quick glance to Wanda, walked over. The rest of the room stopped and watched the whispered exchange. Maria's face was serious, while Lydia's changed from confused, to angry, and finally settled on something akin to mournful.

"Training session's cut short for today, guys," she said, looking at them briefly, "Something's come up. Natasha, I'm gonna need your help."

* * *

A few hours later, Lydia and Nat were half way across the state, standing in a small apartment. Lydia stared down at the dead body of Jonathan Blakely, his skin stretched across his skull tightly and his eyes flat and dull. Wires protruded out of an ugly wound at the back of his neck, curling across the room and connecting to a laptop on the desk under the window. The laptop screen was black, but a small green light flashing every few seconds showed it was on.

Lydia crouched down next to him, smoothing her hand across his blonde hair and skimming her fingers just above the wound and wires. Sighing, she looked over at the laptop.

"He was reckless," she said, her voice emotionless. Standing up, she walked over to the laptop and ran her finger across the mouse, her suspicions confirmed when it brightened onto a word document with a message written on it.

 _Jessica, Lydia, Evan, Caroline, whoever finds me first, if anyone at all. HYDRA is after us._

She motioned for Natasha, who came over and read the message.

"Did he upload anything?" Natasha asked quietly. Lydia sighed and shook her head, beginning to click through the laptop, checking its files.

"I doubt it… no there's nothing here." She gave a humourless laugh, "well this was the whole point."

"We should get him back to HQ, see if we can find… _anything_ ," Natasha said,

"I doubt you'll be able to," Lydia replied, "But yeah. And we need to tell Fury."

* * *

Pietro found Lydia in the kitchen later that night, surprised she was back from her and Natasha's mission already. Usually missions lasted a few days at least. He slowed from his blurring run, seeing her talking into a phone.

"-dead, nothing salvaged…" she paused, the person on the other end of the line speaking, and then she said, "so that's a fifth of the Last Resort Gone… we don't even know what he had… yes… yes he did… shut himself down, I didn't even know it was possible to do that without assistance… very crude, ugly wound, it looked hasty… he was yes… yes HYDRA…" Pietro walked quietly into the kitchen, his ears picking up on everything she said, straining to hear the other person, but he couldn't.

Lydia saw his reflection in the window opposite them, and she sighed. She turned, showing him she knew he was there. He quickly scrambled for an excuse, but her calm demeanor told him that maybe he didn't need one.

"Yes…" she continued to speak into the phone, "We'll find them… he knew one of us would find him so it must be possible… the world is only so big… yes before HYDRA… yes… yes goodnight, Director." She hung up and sighed again, looking up at Pietro.

"Sorry," he said, "for intruding." Lydia waved him off.

"Don't worry about it, just reporting in on the mission earlier," then she scoffed, "if you could even call it that."

"What happened?" Pietro asked, before he could stop himself.

"A friend of mine was found dead," Lydia replied, slipping her phone into her pocket and crossing her arms, "he had some valuable SHIELD information and now its gone along with him."

"Who are you looking for?" Pietro asked. Lydia grinned at him.

"People with similar information," she replied, then sniffed and pushed herself off the side of the counter, "What're you down here for?"

Pietro looked around, suddenly remembering his original objective, "I got hungry," he replied. Lydia raised an eyebrow.

"You eat a lot," she stated, "I've noticed that."

Pietro really couldn't help himself; he shot her a wonky grin and said, "You notice things about me?"

Lydia rolled her eyes and laughed, "I notice things about everyone, it's my job," she replied, and then looked at him slyly, "But I may be paying some… _extra_ attention to you."

Pietro continued to smile and looked down. Once, years ago, he's sure he would have known how to reply. Instead, he just said, "Fast metabolism. Part of being enhanced."

Lydia smiled softly at him, and cracked her knuckles, and moved to leave the kitchen "I recommend the popcorn if your looking for something snackish. Stay away from the ham, though, I think its gone off."

Pietro looked back at her, a smile still pulling at his lips as he watched her leave. She looked over her shoulder and shot him one last grin before turning the corner, leaving him to his food.

When she got back to her room, she ran a hand through her hair, digging her phone out of her pocket and dropping it on her dresser, next to her personal phone. It was then she remembered the message she'd gotten last night while drifting off. Picking up a hairbrush, she pressed the home button and glanced down at the screen. She dropped the hairbrush, seeing the message from someone she hadn't heard from in a year.

 _Jessica Mains: With HYDRA_

* * *

 **So! Here's the second chapter! I hope you guys are liking it. Again, if you have any comments or advice, drop us a review :D**


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Lydia burst out of her room, phone in hand. "FRIDAY, send a message to Maria Hill. Tell her we have information on Jessica Mains," she commanded.

"Right away, Ms Martinez," FRIDAY's smooth voice retorted.

"And wake up Tony, I don't care what he says, tell him to get to the lab."

"Yes, Ms Martinez."

Lydia ran to the lab, a few floors below, passing Pietro as he left the kitchen. Pietro looked at her in shock, and went to follow her. He hesitated, however, and frowned, turning in the other direction and making his way to his and Wanda's room.

Lydia arrived in the lab, running her hands frantically through her hair and booting up some systems. Five minutes later, Tony and Maria arrived, Tony blearily rubbing his face and Maria tying her hair up in a tight bun.

"Tony I need your help to track this message," she threw him the phone, and Tony caught it, looking down. Maria read it over his shoulder.

"With HYDRA…" she rad quietly, "she was caught?"

"That's all I have," Lydia shrugged desperately. "But we need to get her back."

Maria nodded sharply as Tony approached a computer, attaching a cord to the phone. "Shouldn't take too long," he said, his voice still thick with sleep.

"If she was caught by HYDRA she'll be in a base, probably guarded," Lydia said, watching Tony intently.

"I'll call together the team," Maria told her, placing a hand on her shoulder, "we'll get her back."

Lydia swallowed, cracking her knuckles as Tony continued to track the message from its sent location.

* * *

"We're attacking a HYDRA base just outside of Cannes in France," Lydia stood at the front of the jet an hour later. Around her, Pietro, Wanda, Vision, Steve and Natasha were either standing or sitting. "They're holding a SHIELD agent, Jessica Mains, prisoner there. She has vital data and information; it's essential we get her out alive. If you get a chance to get any HYDRA information, take it and take out whoever you come across, but Jessica's our main priority." She looked at Natasha and Steve, "you know what's at stake."

Steve and Natasha nodded, and Lydia sighed, cracking her knuckles. "FRIDAY, what's the ETA?"

"Two hours, Ms Martinez," FRIDAY replied.

* * *

The truck slammed into the ground and Lydia pushed it forward immediately, driving towards the long, low building. Pietro jumped out the truck and zoomed off ahead of them, and Vision flew overhead.

"Five patrolling guards have been taken out," Pietro's voice came through Lydia's earpiece. There was a small grunt and a crash, and then he said, "Make that six. Also, the alarms have just gone off."

Lydia gave him a grunt of understanding, speeding up the truck. They arrived at the front of the building to bullets being shot at them. Vision took down several gunmen, and Lydia could see the blur of Pietro running around, presumably catching bullets before they reached the truck.

"You know what to do," Lydia said. The others nodded and jumped out the truck, making their way forward. Steve threw his shield towards window as Lydia pulled out her gun, shooting through the window as the shield smashed it, taking down three soldiers. She threw Steve a brief thanks, before swinging out of the truck and through the window. She shot another agent coming through the door, right in the middle of the head, and stepped over his body.

Alarms bleared around her, the shrill ringing clawing at her ears, and flashing lights caused shadows to throw themselves across the wall. Lydia breathed heavily as she walked forward, her heavy boots thudding on the ground. She sent bullets flying towards anyone she saw from the corner of her eyes.

"Where are you, Mains," she whispered to herself.

She gasped as something clenched around her throat and violently pulled her back, bending her spine painfully. Letting out a grunt, she twisted and slid her legs across, sweeping her attacker towards the floor. She went to aim her gun, but the HYDRA agent grabbed her arm and twisted, causing her to drop her gun as she cried out. He moved forward to attack her again, and Lydia used him as leverage to swing herself up, slamming the steel capped over her toes into his skull. She heard the crack under the alarms, and he stumbled away. Furiously, she scoured the floor for her gun, found it, and lunged for it. By the time she'd rolled back up, the agent also had a gun pointed at her head. Blood dripped down his neck and her wrist was starting to bruise. The alarms faded into the background as they both fired. Wind shot past Lydia as a blur of blue assaulted her vision. By the time she'd blinked, the HYDRA agent was on the floor with six bullets in his chest, and the bullets he'd shot towards her were dropped out of Pietro's hands.

"You're welcome." He said. Lydia reloaded her gun and shot the agent once more, for good measure.

"Thanks," she said, and continued down the hallway.

"Natasha has found some useful information, she's downloading it now," Pietro informed her. He zoomed off, and Lydia heard the brief sounds of a scuffle before he rejoined her side.

"Good," she said, and then broadcasted to the team, "Anyone got news on Mains?" A chorus of negative responses came through, and she grunted, cracking her knuckles.

Her and Pietro searched through the base, sending bullets into any HYDRA agents they found, briefly searching through anything that looked interesting, with Pietro zipping off every now and then to either scout ahead or clear the path.

"Lydia?"

Lydia spun around as Pietro blurred into another room. In the doorway, stood a tall woman with caramel blonde hair and wide cheekbones. She was dressed in a smart black suit, and was pointing a gun at her.

"Jessica!" Lydia breathed, smiling as she stepped forward. But she stopped when Jessica cocked the gun. Lydia blink, her smile falling off her face. "Jess?"

"I don't want to shoot you," Jessica said, calmly. Behind her, Lydia could hear Pietro clearing out the room he'd entered, but she ignored it. She gripped her gun tightly, refusing to raise it. She shook her head.

"You're with HYDRA," she murmured. Jessica raised her eyebrows.

"That _is_ what I told you," she replied. Lydia let out a shaky breath.

"I thought…"

"You thought I was a prisoner?" Jessica asked, and let out a snort, "No, I've been with HYDRA for six months. They're a lot more efficient than SHIELD."

Lydia shook her head again, "You didn't…"

"Didn't what?" Jessica asked, "Join HYDRA? Obviously. Give them my information? Not yet, it's useless without all of us. That's why I told you. We need you…" she paused, and looked at Lydia softly, " _I_ need you."

"You want me to join HYDRA?" Lydia asked. From the corner of her eye, she saw Pietro slide to a stop about ten feet away. Jessica nodded, not seeing him.

"Yes. Join us. Join _me_. We're searching for the others, for their information."

Lydia's eyes fell away from Jessica's face, and glazed over. "Jon's dead…" she said, her voice emotionless.

"Dammit," Jessica sighed, "Oh well. Four of us is still better than none."

Lydia looked up, "I'm not _joining_ HYDRA!" she exclaimed, "You're insane! Why would you… everything we fought against…"

"HYDRA and SHIELD aren't all that different," Jessica said softly, "HYDRA will just do anything to get done what needs to be done." Lydia continued to shake her head, and began to raise her gun. Jessica sighed and pursed her lips. "Pity. But I still need your information."

She shot.

Pietro ran forward, catching the bullet in mid-air, and holding it between his thumb and finger, a foot from Jessica's shocked face. He slammed his fist into her face, hurling her back.

"Guys we've got an issue, HYDRA reinforcements are coming in. what's the word on Mains?" Natasha's voice came through the comm.

Pietro zipped back to Lydia's side as Jessica shot Lydia one last look, before running through a room. Pietro went to run after her, but Lydia placed a hand on his arm. He looked at her, confused, and saw her jaw clenched tightly.

"We're not getting her," she said, her voice shaking, "retreat. I'll explain on the jet."

* * *

After briefly reporting back on the jet, Lydia sat at the back in the shadows, undoing and doing up her fingerless gloves, staring into space. Natasha, Steve and Wanda were looking over some information they'd managed to download from the base, while Vision took over piloting the jet. Pietro sat in the co-pilot's chair for a while, before looking over his shoulder at Lydia. Hesitantly, he stood up and slowly made his way over to her. Wanda glanced up at him as he passed, and smiled, taking his seat and pulling Vision into a conversation,

He hovered in front of Lydia for a second, before cautiously sitting down next to her. She rolled her head over to look at him, securing her gloves one final time and then dropping her hands into her lap.

"I am… sorry about your friend," Pietro finally said, his words coming out slowly. Lydia let out a humourless snort and looked down, running her hands through her hair.

"Don't be," she said, "honestly, I suppose I should've guessed when I got the message. She wouldn't have been able to send that if she was a prisoner. I just… wanted to save her."

"But now she is your enemy," Pietro said, "part of HYDRA."

Lydia sighed and let her head fall back against the wall. She looked up at the ceiling. "Yeah. I probably shouldn't have let her go."

They were silent for a moment, letting the hum of conversation from the front of the jet waft around them. Pietro watched Lydia looking idly at the ceiling. Her chest fell and rose softly with her breathing, and her eyelashes flickered every now and then as she blinked. The shadows of the back of the jet spanned across her face, making her eyes and skin seem darker than they already were.

"Why… did you let her go?" Pietro finally asked. Lydia gave herself a mocking grin.

"Do you want the sensible reason, or the real reason?" She asked. Pietro shrugged.

"Both?"

Lydia snorted. "Sensible reason: She still has valuable SHIELD information and we can't afford to lose any more than we already have, especially now that Jon is dead and his information is gone. The real reason?" Lydia looked over at him, smiling sadly, "I was too overwhelmed. Seeing her again after more than a year it… I wanted to be happy. I thought I had her back. But I didn't. Even the best agents get emotionally compromised sometimes."

"She was a very good friend of yours then?" Pietro asked, curiously.

"More," Lydia said, "we were together, for a while. I loved her…" she looked away, back towards the ceiling, "this time a year and a half ago I was planning to spend the rest of my life with her. And then SHIELD collapsed and she disappeared. And now she's with HYDRA."

Pietro blinked at her, frowning. "I'm sorry," he said again, not really knowing how to reply. Lydia shook her head.

"Don't be," she replied with, again, "I've had more than a year to move on. Even if she wasn't with HYDRA I doubt I would have wanted to be with her again." She then shot him a salacious grin, attempting to disperse the mournful, heavy air. "Besides, I might just have my sight set on someone else."

Pietro raised his eyebrows, smiling back at her, "oh really?"

Lydia nodded, seriously, "Yes. Don't tell anyone, but Wanda is very attractive."

Pietro snorted, shaking his head, "Do not let Vision hear you say that." Lydia smiled, looking down at her hands in her lap and giggling slightly.

* * *

 **I'm not quite sure how I feel about this chapter; fight and action scenes have never really been my forte, so it'd be great to hear what you guys thought of it. Any advice would be greatly appreciated, and just any comments in general would be awesome :D**


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

"What's this?" Pietro asked, as he, Lydia, Wanda, Steve and Sam were all sat around the breakfast bar in the kitchen around midday, eating lunch.

"What's what?" Lydia asked, looking up from her cereal.

"This," Pietro pointed to a faint, thin scar running down the back of Lydia's neck, which could be seen as her hair was tied in a knot at the top of her head. His fingers briefly brushed her skin as he pulled his hand back, and he flexed his fingers slightly.

Lydia glanced at Steve as she dropped her spoon in her cereal shrugging. "Had an accident on a mission a few years ago. I needed surgery," she then cracked a grin, "At that point, Dr Cho's amazing cradle tech hadn't been invented yet so uh, I was left with actual evidence of an injury."

"What happened?" Wanda asked, curious. Sam leaned forward, also interested, while Steve's mouth formed a tight line. Lydia shifted in her seat, grabbing her spoon again.

"Oh, y'know, head trauma, bullets, hospitals, that sort of thing," she said vaguely.

Natasha strode into the kitchen before anyone could push her any further. "We've got a lead on Banner," she said, "We need to move quickly or it could go cold."

"Brilliant," Lydia said, filling up her spoon with cereal, "Where is he."

"Last we know of, Suva, in Fiji," Natasha answered. Lydia stalled her spoon halfway to her mouth, looking at Natasha incredulously.

" _Fiji_?" She asked. Pietro snorted and she rolled her eyes at him as Natasha shrugged.

"This obviously isn't a full mission," Natasha said, "So we won't need a full team but a few people coming along with me would be helpful."

"I'd love to help," Steve said, "But me and Sam have somewhere to be." Lydia and Natasha glanced at each other while the Maximoffs looked confused.

"We'll keep you updated on anything we find," Natasha nodded to them.

"Same with us," Sam replied, before standing up along with Steve.

"Good luck," Lydia told them, finally sticking her spoon of cereal in her mouth.

"Thanks, you too," Steve said.

* * *

" _Fiji…_ why _Fiji_?" Lydia muttered to herself in the pilot's seat a few hours later.

"Maybe he likes Fiji," Pietro replied from the co-pilot's seat. Lydia rolled her head over to look at him, raising her eyebrows, and he shrugged. "So, uh," he faltered for a second, eyes flicking to look out the window, "Where are Steve and Sam? What are they looking for?"

Lydia knitted her eyebrows together, her mouth forming a tight frown. "I'm… not too sure I can say," she answered, "It's not really my place."

"Oh," Pietro said, as Wanda came over to them, leaning against her brother's chair.

"Have you ever been to Fiji before?" she asked, looking at Lydia.

"Nope," she replied, "Honestly I still can't quite really believe we _are_ going… _Fiji_ why would he go to _Fiji_?"

"Perhaps he likes Fiji?" Wanda suggested.

"That's what I said," Pietro told her.

"Do you not think Banner likes Fiji?" Wanda asked Lydia, curiously. Lydia stared at the two of them, both of them watching her curiously, before snorting and shaking her head.

"I dunno, I guess so," she replied, a laugh lacing her voice.

* * *

Banner was not in Fiji. At least, if he had been, by the time they'd gotten there and scoured the city, he had already gone, taking all trace that he'd ever been there with him. Back on the jet, flying through the night, Wanda and Pietro sat quietly at the front while Natasha and Lydia sat in the shadows at the back. Natasha stared at the wall, her mouth pulled down into a frown.

"We'll find him," Lydia said, taking Natasha's hand and stroking her thumb over the top, "he can't run forever."

Natasha shook her head, "Last time we tracked him down he didn't know we knew where he was. Now he knows we're trying to find him. He's going to be extra careful."

"Everyone slips up," Lydia said, bending her head down to look Natasha in the eye, "He'll make a mistake and we'll be there to make sure we get him before anyone else."

At the front of the jet, Pietro and Wanda watched the two women quietly over the edge of their chairs. "Everyone is looking for someone," Wanda murmured.

Pietro looked at her, "What?" Wanda dipped her eyebrows and turned back to face the window, looking down at her lap.

"Natasha is looking for Banner," she said, counting on one finger, "the Captain is looking for… someone," she counted off the other finger, "Lydia is looking for people who have SHIELD information…" she counted off the third finger, "how can so many people be lost?"

Pietro sighed and shrugged, looking back over the back of his chair. Natasha had closed her eyes and leaned her head back against the wall. Lydia still held her hand, running her thumb over it slowly and rhythmically. She pressed her free hand against her leg and cracked her knuckles, looking up and catching Pietro's eye. She sent him a soft smile, and his lips quirked back, before he turned back around in his chair.

He looked to his side and saw Wanda watching him, curiously. Confusion slid over Pietro's face. "You have been talking to Martinez a lot," Wanda stated. Pietro frowned and shrugged.

"I suppose," he answered, "she is easy to talk to. She does not force me into conversation like many of the others."

Wanda smiled, "It is good. This is… hard," she looked out of the window, "coming here. Learning. Interacting. It is good that we have both found a person we feel comfortable with to help us."

Pietro scoffed, "Yes but at least mine is a person," he said, throwing her a lopsided smile, "Yes, but at least mine is human. Yours is a robot."

Wanda rolled her eyes, "Vision is as much a man as you," she defended, "and he is very helpful. We have been navigating the world together. It is new for him. And someone I need to re-find."

Pietro looked down at his lap, "So do I."

"You have not been very respondent in that learning recently," Wanda said, softly. Pietro looked up at her, his face drawn.

"You know you've always found it easier to adapt to new people and new places." He said. Wanda nodded.

"Yes, I know. But I am glad you're finally adapting. And Lydia is a good person to help you," she glanced over to the back of her chair. Lydia had rested her head on Natasha's shoulder, dozing off, "We train together often. She is good at both pushing you and making sure you are still comfortable."

Pietro made a sound of agreement, kicking his feet up on the dashboard and leaning back, closing his eyes. Wanda waited to see if he would say anything more, but after a moment of silence, she sighed, and curled up in her chair, closing her eyes as well.

* * *

A week passed as normal. Steve, Lydia and Natasha trained the New Avengers when they were all available. Steve and Sam disappeared off to search for the Winter Solider. Natasha tried to track down Bruce. Wanda and Pietro continued to train and relearn how to live. Lydia spent countless of hours with Maria attempting to find The Last Resort.

"Wait…" Lydia said one afternoon. Her head had begun o ache from staring at computer screens for so long, but she squinted and looked even closer at the screen in front of her. Zooming in, she focused on a young woman with a round face and straight brown hair. "FRIDAY can you run a scan for any matches on this face?"

"Of course, Ms Martinez," FRIDAY responded. There was a moment of silence, in which Maria walked over to Lydia, looking at the screen. "The image is a 99.6 percent match to Caroline Hord," FRIDAY said.

"Thank you FRIDAY," Lydia said, closing the laptop sharply and nodding to Maria before leaving briskly.

* * *

The next day, Lydia knocked on a green door in the suburbs of San Francisco, smoothing down her blouse, and then slipping her hand into her bag, closing her fingers around the cold handle of her gun. When an elderly woman with a round, smiling face opened the door, her grip relaxed slightly.

"Mrs Hord?" Lydia asked.

"Yes," the woman replied, nodding. Lydia plastered a smile on her face and let out an artificially nervous breath.

"Hi, I'm Cassie Lowe, I'm a friend of Caroline's?" Lydia said, her voice a notch higher than usual, "She invited me round for coffee the other day, I don't know if…"

"Oh, yes of course come in," Mrs Hord beckoned Lydia in, and then called up the stairs, "Carol dear, your friend's here!"

"My friend?" A voice called back, and footsteps made their way across the landing. Lydia gripped her gun tighter again.

"Yes, Cassie Lowe?" Mrs Hord looked at Lydia, and she nodded, smiling.

"Cassie Low- Oh…"

A young woman, no older than eighteen, came down the stairs. Her face still held the remnants of baby fat, and the bright pink, fluffy hair band tying back her hair, plus the cartoon dog on her jumper, didn't help to make her look any older. Her fingernails and toenails were all painted different colours, and she had multiple elastic and beaded bracelets running up her left arm.

"Hi… Cassie," Caroline said, her voice flat and her face emotionless.

"I'll get you some coffee, yeah?" Mrs Hord suggested.

"That'd be great mum thanks. Why don't you come up," she nodded to Lydia, who followed her up the stairs. Caroline's room looked just as young as she did, with various posters of TV shows and bands around the walls, and photos scattered around between them. Lydia looked at a family photo of when Caroline must have been about fifteen, with Caroline in the centre, her mother next to her, and her father on the other side. Mr Hord seemed to be in standard army blues, but Lydia spotted the SHIELD insignia on a patch on his shoulder.

Under that photo was another, half tucked behind a Rihanna poster. In it stood five people; Lydia, Jessica, Jonathan, Caroline and Evan. They were in an almost empty hospital room, crowded around a bed which Jonathan sat in. Lydia's face was covered in bruises. Jessica's arm was in a sling. Evan's head was completely shaved.

"What do you want?" Caroline asked, sitting on her bed. Lydia turned around, sucking in a breath and frowning.

"Do you want the long answer, or the short answer?"

* * *

Three hours and five cups of coffee each later, both Caroline and Lydia sat on Caroline's bed, frowning.

"I'm sorry about Jessica," Caroline finally said. Lydia shook her head.

"Not your fault." She said. Caroline nodded, fiddling with the empty mug in her hands. She looked up, looking Lydia in the eye.

"I don't want to be a part of this," she confessed, "You know I was always… less than enthusiastic about it to begin with. It was all my dad's fault, if he hadn't put me in danger I would have just thought he was just a normal grunt. I don't want to do this," she was beginning to rock back and forwards slightly.

"I know," Lydia muttered, crawling forward and pulling Caroline into a hug, "That's why I need you to come with me. We can extract your information, and then you can come back. Maybe I could swing a deal and get you back into school."

Caroline watched Lydia for a while, thinking, chewing on her bottom lip. Finally, she nodded. "Ok," she said, "ok. Anything to get me out of this mess."

* * *

 **Hey! I'm really sorry for taking so long to update. I had a week full of revising and stress and exams, and then I had to pack up my uni room to come back home for the summer, and I also hit a bit of a writer's block, but hopefully I'll be back on track now**

 **I kinda feel like I'm not doing Wanda justice or giving her the time she deserves; she's such a massive part of Pietro's life and I'm trying to avoid the whole "wanda's conveniently not there when romance stuff is happening", so if anyone's got any advice on that front, I'd be really happy to hear it :D**

 **And, like, any comments really. They'd be awesome to hear :D**


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Lydia and Caroline lay in a drug induced sleep in beds side by side. Milling around them in the clean, white room were two doctors and Maria Hill. Computers beeped softly on desks, and the doctors conversed quietly. Several wires protruded from neat, clean incisions in the back of the two women's' necks, where the skin had been pulled back to reveal their spinal cord. Metal clamps could be seen connecting Lydia's skull and spine. Metal bolts were screwed into Caroline's backbone. Three red wires curled around each other, connecting Lydia and Caroline. A blue wire connected Lydia to a computer, and a green one connected Caroline to the same computer. An IV drip was connected to both of their arms.

Information scrolled up the computer screen, a bunch of encoded messages and complicated symbols passing before Maria's eyes. She recognised some of the scrambled information, knowing what would be found if they were either accessed by the right people with the right passcodes, or hacked by the most talented of hackers. Not that that would happen. The whole point of this was so that even Tony Stark wouldn't be able to access this information.

"We've almost completed the transfusion, Ma'am," one of the doctors said. Maria nodded, placing her hand over her mouth, still watching the computer screen carefully.

"Good, wipe Miss Hord's memory afterwards. Make sure she's transferred to a general hospital before she wakes up." Maria ordered.

"Yes, Ma'am."

"And ensure Agent Martinez rests is watched for the next few days; I want to make sure this doesn't have any ill effects on her, or the information she now carries." Maria added.

"Of course, Ma'am."

* * *

Lydia awoke in a small, barren white room. Breathing out heavily, she winced at the dull ache spreading from the back of her neck all across her brain and skull. She rolled her head to the side, groaning as she swore she could feel the metal clamps keeping her skull and spine intact grind against the bone. On the table next to her was a tall glass of water and a clipboard with her medical data attached. She looked down to the IV protruding from her elbow and grimaced, looking away out of the window. Clouds rolled across a blue sky, the sun sitting somewhere on the other side of the building. She sighed again.

"Goodbye, Caroline…" She muttered.

She laid there for about twenty minutes, letting her mind run, before a doctor came in.

"Hello, Agent Martinez, I'm Doctor Holloway," she said, picking up the clipboard on the table. Lydia nodded and pushed herself up into a sitting position as Doctor Holloway scanned her data. "We'll be able to discharge you by the end of the day, I think, although Agent Hill has requested you take it easy for a few days, in order to assess whether you're mind and body can take the extra information you now have."

Lydia rolled her eyes, "We already figured out the average human brain could hold more information than originally thought possible, I think I'll be fine with a bit more."

Doctor Holloway gave her an amused smile, "Still, you've now got two fifths of SHIELDs secrets programmed into your subconscious; for both your sake _and_ the world's, we all think 'better safe than sorry' is a good expression."

"Yeah yeah I got it, Doc," Lydia sighed. The doctor placed the clipboard back onto the table, and reached into a pocket of her lab coat.

"Agent Hill thought you might want these," she handed Lydia a small stack of photos, "All photographic evidence of SHIELD from Miss Hord's room." with that, Doctor Holloway left.

A smile quirked at Lydia's lips as she looked through the photos; many of them were of members of The Last Resort, a few taken in hospital after they're accidents leading to the most important of SHIELD's information had been split into five and downloaded into their brains. Some were from various parties they'd attended, usually as part of a mission. There were also a few of Caroline's father, where his involvement with SHIELD was noticeable enough that it would have caused Caroline to become confused if she had looked at them. Lydia sighed again and placed the photos on the table, lying down again and going back to looking out the window.

* * *

Pietro rushed around Avengers Tower as he often did on days when there was not much to do. He passed Lydia several times on his way to and from the kitchen, curled up on a sofa watching TV with a blanket swathing her. He didn't think much of it the first few times, time taken up with conversing with Wanda, training with Captain Rogers and the Vision, and running laps around the track outside. Passing her for the fifth time, however, he skidded to a stop, chewing on some crisps he'd whipped out of the cupboard.

"Is anything wrong?" he asked. Lydia jumped and turned around. She'd been acutely aware of him passing every now and then, from the flutter of wind picking up her hair or a slight blur if he ran in front of her, but she hadn't expected him to stop. She shrugged and shook her head.

"Nah, I'm fine, why?" she answered. Pietro flicked to the front of the sofa and sat down, offering her the crisp packet.

"I just haven't seen you in a few days," he answered, as she took a crisp and stuck it in her mouth, "and now you have been on the sofa all day watching…" he glanced at the screen, furrowing his eyebrows.

"Scrubs," Lydia offered, "but yeah I'm fine just been a… little bit under the weather," she rubbed the back of her neck and winced.

"Is the issue with not being enhanced," Pietro told her, a teasing smile on his face, "you get sick like normal people."

Lydia scoffed, dropping her hand from the back of her neck, "Yes, well, not all of us can be both super fast _and_ super attractive at the same time. I only got one of those," she grinned at Pietro. He looked down into his lap, chuckling slightly.

"Yes, but when you are so blessed with one, you do not need the other," he replied, eyes flicking back up to her face. She gave a loud laugh, throwing her head back, and then winced, rubbing the base of her skull again.

Following her movements, Pietro asked, "Is it to do with your injury? The one you had on a mission a few years ago?"

Lydia glanced at him, eyebrows knitting together. "Something like that, yeah. I've just gotta take it easy for a few days," she then perked up and grinned wickedly at him, "Don't worry, Maximoff, soon I'll be back to kicking your arse in training."

"I look forward to it," Pietro replied, grinning just as wickedly.

* * *

"C'mon, Wanda I thought you were meant to be able to read my next moves in my thoughts?" Lydia said, hauling Wanda off the floor of the training room and running her gloved hand across her forehead. It was a week and a half after Caroline's data had been transferred over to her, and she was back to normal duty. Her neck and skull didn't even ache any more.

Natasha and Steve were off chasing leads on their respective searches, leaving Lydia alone to train Wanda, Pietro and Vision for the next few days. She'd broken the three up into one-on-one sessions, figuring it would be easier than a three-on-one.

"I am sorry it's just," Wanda rocked back on her feet, looking at Lydia curiously, "there seems to be some interference in your mind. The information is still coming through but… it is slow, liking it is trying to drag itself through more than it should have too."

Lydia knitted her eyebrows together, tightening her fingerless gloves and then crossing her arms. "Hm… that's… interesting…" she said. Wanda cocked her head to the side.

"It is?" she asked, "Do you know what is causing it?"

"I think so…"

They stood in silence for a moment, Wanda watching Lydia and Lydia staring off into space, chewing on her bottom lip. "You know," Wanda said, pulling Lydia back to reality, "Your thoughts have always been… slower to find, than others. Your mind has always been heavier. I just assumed it was something to do with your thought process but…" she shrugged.

"Have they? My thoughts, been slower I mean." Lydia asked. Wanda nodded. Lydia blinked.

"That's very interesting…" she muttered, resolving to mention the fact to Maria later, then snapped back into stance, "C'mon then Wanda, let's try and get you used to that."

* * *

"C'mon, Pietro, you gonna hit me or what?!" Lydia dropped into a crouch, trying to make herself aware of the entire room.

"You sure you want that?" Pietro called from across the room, before zipping off. She felt him brush centre metres away from her, wind cooling the heat building up during their sparring. Or, well, her crouching in stance and trying to catch him as he passed.

"Oh, most definitely," she muttered, as he passed again. Her fingers brushed him, and she let out a frustrated growl as she just missed.

And then something grabbed her by the shoulder and spun her around.

Suddenly, the two of them were throwing kicks and punches at each other. Pietro dodged some of Lydia's hits, but, in being occupied by also trying to land an attack, faltered several times, and grunted every time her fist or foot connected with him.

"You need to split your focus equally between attack and defence," Lydia told him, spinning and landing a kick to his chest, "you're only focusing on attack at the moment."

Pietro dodged her next ten attempts at attack, flitting around her. He managed to slip a punch in here and there, but for the most part, avoided her. "And now you're only focusing on defence," Lydia stated.

Pietro huffed, grabbing for her shoulder and forcing her around again, sliding a foot under her leg to drop her to the ground. She rolled out of the way and managed to circle her fingers around his ankles, pulling and causing him to lose his balance. They continued for several minutes, until Lydia called a halt. Pietro snapped to a stop inches in front of her, his fist midpunch, pulled behind his shoulder. Lydia smiled at him, and reached up, pulling his arm down, sliding her fingers down his wrist and hand before dropping it to her side. They were both breathing heavily, chests sometimes brushing against each other when they both inhaled at the same time.

Lydia stared up at him with a smile tugging at her lips impishly. Pietro swallowed, looking down, eyes flicking haphazardly from Lydia's face, to her shoulder, to the ceiling, and back to her face.

"Practice on splitting your focus," she told him, her voice quiet, "or else your opponent can take advantage."

Pietro nodded, and Lydia's smile turned into more of a smirk. After a moment of standing and breathing, Pietro swallowed again, and leaned an inch or two forward. Lydia blinked, raising her head and Pietro blinked. Before he could move any closer, Lydia reached out, curled her fingers around his hand, squeezed, and then stepped back.

Pietro watched her turn and walk away, picking her phone and a water bottle off the table and making her way towards the door. She slipped her phone into her pocket and poured the water into her mouth as she left the room, not looking back. Pietro let out a shaking, heavy breath, nodding and running his hand through his hair.

He's sure, that years ago, before SHIELD, before Ultron, before HYDRA, back when he and his sister were just rioting and surviving in Sokovia, he would have been able to glide around Lydia smoother than silk. But it had been a long time, and it _felt_ like even longer, since he'd even bothered thinking of anything like this. In a way, he was glad Lydia had left. With her standing in front of him, inches from his face, she crowded him. His space, his mind, his feeling. It was just her, breathing in front of him.

Wanda had always told him he was rash, but he never quite realised how rash he could be until he'd done it. Or almost done it.

Sighing, Pietro shook his head, before zipping out of the room.

* * *

 **Well. Here we go, chapter a bit sooner than normal to make up for my lateness with the last one. Um, it'd be great if you let me know if this chapter made sense. A lot of information was dropped regarding Lydia and the rest of the Last Resort, so I wanna know if I managed to convey it clearly enough. So yeah, any comments would be appreciated :D**


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